Into the Storm Part 2: The War Between Worlds
by Kujo Shihoin
Summary: Mourning their deceased captain-commander, and thirsting for revenge on his killer, Kazetora Kasumioji, Simura Kiraiyane and Yoshima Okanade prepare to investigate the Dangai, a dimension between Soul Society and Human World. Meanwhile, Kujo Shihoin tries to control his inner Hollow. Soul Society, reunited, faces its greatest test yet: the attack of an unknown Hollow power.
1. Chapter 1: Conquering Our Demons

_The noble warrior riding the sands of eternity…the beast of the winds…the friend turned traitor and back…the moon's chosen emissary…and their enemy, the one who bathes in the blood of his foes. Their origins have been told…now we must move on. There is one that this enemy fears…one who will rise from the ashes of hell and claim victory…_

* * *

The door of the hall opened. Columns of black onyx lined the walls, leading the way to the pale throne at the far end. A figure in a white cloak strode across the floor, approaching the figure in the chair.

"My Lord," said the figure in white. "I hope I find you well?"

"Dispense with the pleasantries, Rojo, I want to know how our search is going," the enthroned person said. His face was shrouded in darkness; all that could be seen was a pair of glowing white eyes. The man, if man he was, was garbed in a skintight white coat with black stripes extending out from a small hole in the center of his chest. His arms were clad in a pair of black, jagged, multi-faceted gauntlets. Lying across his knees was a pair of long knives each with two serrated edges on their sable blades.

"Very well," spoke the man in white. He raised his head to reveal a harsh smile, his eyes hidden from view by a white mask with six red keyhole shaped symbols adorning the lower edge. "We have garrisoned several of the old Togabito lairs with our soldiers. We unfortunately don't know where she is yet."

"I want her found, Rojo!" growled his superior. "You are our strongest weapon in this war. I don't want any of your weaknesses standing in our way."

"Yes, sir," said Rojo, clearly dismayed at being called a weapon. "She will be in our grasp, at last, and then I will end her."

"Good."

Unbeknownst to the Hollow and his leader, in the shadows, a Shinigami lurked. She had gotten what she came for.

* * *

_Soul Society, just below Sokyoku Hill…_

Two Shinigami walked together toward the base of the cliff. They were a young man and woman, the man with long, spiky brown hair and blue eyes, and the woman with vivid green eyes and short black hair falling over her right eye.

They were both captains, as evidenced by their white haori coats. The man's coat had the kanji for three on the back and the woman's coat a nine.

Kujo Shihoin, for it was him, pulled up a trap door cleverly obscured in the rock. "I learned my Bankai in this place. How appropriate I should also conquer my Hollow in the same cave."

"As long as I don't have to worry about you dying because of it," the woman said.

Kujo looked back at her, smiling fondly. "Thanks, Kazetora. I'll make sure of it." Kujo really wasn't sure of it; in fact he was quite nervous. The two of them jumped into the hole now opened in the cliff face, descending into the shadows.

When they reached the bottom, they walked between a pair of stalagmites, where they found Rose Otoribashi. The former captain now wore the standard shihakusho and a haori with four stars in a cross on the back, circled by the logo of the Gotei Thirteen.

"What's with the funky symbol?" asked Kazetora.

"Kensei, Shinji and I have all been appointed to the senior membership of the Zero Division." He paused, and then added, "It's not funky at all."

"Whatever you say," Kujo said. "What must be done?"

"Follow me," Rose told him. "Then you will see."

A little suspicious, Kujo and Kazetora trailed behind Rose as he strode deeper into the cavern.

They emerged into the widest section, and Rose led them over to a rock in the center. Upon the rock sat a young woman with black hair in a braid and sea-green eyes wearing purple oval shaped glasses, a white sailor's jacket and a navy blue pleated miniskirt.

"Lisa and I are the only Visoreds who are still here," explained Rose. "I wanted to stay so I could help you."

The woman named Lisa had gotten off of her rock. Kujo swore he could see her shove a magazine into her pocket as she stood up. "I've got a bone to pick with that Arrancar for killing my former captain." Seeing Kujo's confused look, she added, "Kyoraku was my captain one hundred-twenty years ago. If you are the one who's going to stop that murderer, I want you at your best."

Kujo nodded. "I can do that. Don't you worry about a thing."

"Then let's get started."

* * *

Kujo stood in the center of a square cut into the dirt. Rose, Lisa, and Kazetora were lined up along an edge of the square.

Rose looked concerned. "If only we had Hachi, this would be less…destructive…and dangerous."

"Why? Who is this 'Hachi'?" asked Kujo.

"He was lieutenant of the Kido Corps when I was first a captain, over a century ago," said Rose. "Sosuke Aizen transformed us into Hollows. We had no choice but to become Visoreds." He sighed. "Then we went into hiding, and Hachi went to work developing new Kido techniques. His specialty is barriers…they would really come in handy here."

"That was how we did it with Ichigo Kurosaki," added Lisa.

"My lieutenant? He's a Visored?" asked Kujo.

"Not anymore," Rose said. "He uses only his Shinigami powers now. It turns out he was duped by his so called 'Zanpakuto', Zangetsu. You know, of course, about the Quincy War?"

"Yeah. The Quincy king was called Yhwach, right?"

"Indeed. Yhwach planted a piece of his soul in Ichigo which masqueraded as Zangetsu. Ichigo took his true power away from Yhwach. It was what he originally thought was his inner Hollow."

"We are sure what you have is the real thing, though," said Lisa. "We are evidence enough that inner Hollows really do exist."

"Enough talk, it's time to finish this!" said Kujo forcefully.

"Agreed!" said Rose. "Bakudo no Nanajugo: Gochuutekkan (Way of Binding #75: Five-Pillared Iron Weights)!" He clasped his hands and slammed them into the ground. With a loud boom five huge metal rods smashed Kujo to the ground.

"What are you doing!?" shouted Kazetora.

"It's a rough process, and often a scary one, so we must restrain him before we begin." Rose told her. "Be prepared to fight if necessary."

"Very well," she said firmly.

It was a little bit of a wait. Then it came. Suddenly Kujo began to twitch on the ground, and Rose drew his sword, stepping forward.

CRACK! CRUNCH! The pillars creaked and began to break up. And then a roiling torrent of blue-black reiatsu blazed out of Kujo, who shattered the pillars and got to his feet.

Kazetora reeled back in horror. The thing that Kujo had become…it was already terrifying.

His eyes were wide and dark blue with black sclera, and already a few strips of dark gray linen were winding their way around his torso. But worst of all was the screeching, maniacal laughter rising from his throat.

"Let's do this, you monster!" yelled Rose and he charged.

Cackling, the not-Kujo drew his sword and ran toward his opponent. Their weapons met with a momentous clang and the earth around them shattered.

"Smash, Hagurotonbo (Iron Drink Dragonfly)!" shouted Lisa as she connected her sword to its sheath and swung it around. She struck at the creature with a massive polearm that had a monk's spade on one end and a round weight on the other. It was blocked by a cloud of Hollow energy which manifested behind the creature, the energy and the blade sparking against each other. This'll be hard, she thought.

* * *

Kujo was lying face down in a sand dune. He got to his knees, wiping the sand off of his face, and looked around. He stood in an endless desert, raging sandstorms crawling their way across the far-off horizon. Kujo turned around. About ten feet further on began the slopes of a huge pyramid stretching toward the heavens, a pyramid whose golden capstone was engraved with an Egyptian ankh symbol on every side. A memory entered Kujo's brain…_He stood at the zenith of this very structure, and before him floated a figure in brown robes, the black voids in the eyeholes of its gold death mask swirling...the figure spoke to him…_"Boy,"_it said._ "Do you want to wield my power?" _Kujo had firmly answered yes. _"Then tell me…my name!" _Kujo looked up into the shifting sunlight…he saw the answer…he gazed back at the figure's face, so obscured by its false golden one, and shouted in his mind and heart…_"Sunaarashi!" Kujo shouted up the slopes of the monument, now in the present. "Sunaarashi! Where are you?!"

"_I would not go looking for him in vain,_" spoke a high, rippling voice. Kujo whipped around. Nothing there.

"_He's not here. I'm all you've got to face,_" said the voice.

"Then face me, you coward," Kujo said to thin air. He turned slowly. Stood upon the tenth step of the pyramid was…Kujo, but not Kujo at the same time. He wore a white shihakusho and a black haori coat with white markings, black boots and gauntlets with navy blue markings, a silver chain supporting a silver Shihoin crest, lime green ribbons cascading down his back, and by his side a katana with a silver tsuba shaped like a rhombus, a dark red tsuka with black hilt metal and a silver pommel cap with a dark red tassel attached. Kujo looked into his Hollow's face, with its pale complexion, dark blue and black eyes and spiky gray hair.

"I'm here to end this. You're not going to corrupt my soul any longer," Kujo told him.

"_Your soul is already mine, Kujo,_" said the Hollow. "_As you can see, I am dominant. Sunaarashi is a part of me now._"

"And why should I allow that?" asked Kujo.

"_You were unable to wield my power without tiring yourself out. Those Hollow soldiers you faced would have killed you if that little girlfriend of yours wasn't there to protect you. I will not sit and watch you burn, for if you do so do I. So let me ask you: Why should _I_ allow that?_"

Kujo drew his sword. So did the Hollow.

"E_n_g_u_l_f_,_ S_u_n_a_a_r_a_s_h_i_!_" they yelled as one.

Spiraling around the pyramid, the two matched warriors traded an intricate set of blows, their Shikai whirling around them, slashing against each other relentlessly. Kujo brought his Shikai sands together into a blade and struck at his opponent's shoulder. Hollow Kujo blocked it with the exact same technique, and retaliated to the opposite location. Kujo flash stepped behind him, and swung at his head. Hollow Kujo appeared even behind Kujo, and kicked him into the rolling dunes surrounding the pyramid. The Hollow raised his sword and lunged into the fray again, bringing it down for the final blow. Kujo stopped it with his sword and attacked. Hollow Kujo grabbed the sword by the blade and flung Kujo into the side of the pyramid.

Kujo stood up shakily. "You think this will finish me?" He raised his sword point down, and stabbed it into the rock. "Bankai!" he shouted. "Sunaarashi Isoireppu!"

Hollow Kujo grinned. And then he did the same thing.

"When did you…" stuttered Kujo.

"_When you did, if it wasn't obvious enough, dimwit._" The Hollow was clearly annoyed now. "_Come at me, and we'll see who's better at Bankai!_"

* * *

Kazetora slashed at the Hollow creature's neck. The same energy shield kept blocking all of her attacks, and the three were starting to get fed up. She jumped back and stopped to assess the situation. Kujo's entire chest and left arm were now clad in dark gray bandages, and they were working towards his head. As she watched, she noticed something change in the world. With a sudden jerk, the Hollow stopped. Suddenly its sword dissolved and black steel three-pronged pikes grew out of the earth at its sides. They exploded into a sandstorm of glowing cobalt blue dust and formed into a single blue energy sword, the sandstorm still trailing off of it.

"_Sunaarashi Isoireppu,_" came that horrible voice. "_Namiutsu Kawa no Shikensu, Sanban: Mizutaki_ (Crushing Waterfall)_!_" Suddenly black-blue energy whirled around not-Kujo's figure, entwining its entire head in dark gray bandages and affixing dark bronze armor to its shoulders and arms and a spiked skull-like mask to its face.

"He's fully Hollowfied!" shouted Rose. "Lisa, what's our time!?"

"Eighty-three minutes!" she told him. "He'd better finish up soon!"

* * *

Kujo swung up Mizutaki and brought it down on the Hollow's Yama no Kao no Shikensu. Hollow Kujo activated Nadare and blew Kujo back. The two raced around the pyramid, trading earth shaking blows. I've got to finish this now, Kujo said to himself. "Senkei (Slaughterscape), Mizutaki!" he shouted. The trail of sands solidified into a chain of pikes and Kujo whipped them at the Hollow.

"_I don't think I'll play this game anymore,_" Hollow Kujo said. He grabbed the first pike out of the air, and it turned cobalt blue. All of them did, and the Hollow gathered them up, bringing them into sword form again. "_This is over!_" he shouted at Kujo. And he shattered the sword into nothingness, and charged in, stabbing his own sword right through Kujo's chest.

* * *

Kujo knelt dismally in the sand. He eyed the pyramid above him, its capstone now shining with the light of the setting sun, a seemingly cold light for such a sad time. The sword in his chest froze him like a sliver of ice. And Kujo saw a face in his mind_…a face whose eyes were covered by a pale mask, a sibilant smirk frozen on its lips. He saw the figure blast a beam of red energy, blowing away an unseen person, who Kujo somehow knew was himself…_and he realized.

"_You allowed that simple, worthless Mod Arrancar to walk all over you…you just sat there and let him. You're weak,_" said Hollow Kujo. "_You did nothing…I would kill him with a stronger power than himself…you cannot._" He grinned. "_That's why I should be in control. Not you. You are worthless as well._"

He started to pull his sword out of Kujo. As it left his chest, Kujo's downcast eyes noticed something…a trail of blue sand rolling off the tip of the blade…like one more lifeline, a last chance for redemption. Shuddering, he reached out and let it fall on his palm. "Come b-" he started. And the fine dust turned orange. "Come back here!" Kujo shouted.

The Hollow turned and looked at Kujo in shock. Kujo stood up to his full height, the full form of his Bankai roiling around him once more…and he started forward. He leapt into the air, descending rapidly upon the one he had to defeat, thrust out his hand, and stabbed through the Hollow's chest with the sandstorm clinging to his arm.

"_I guess you had that killer instinct somewhere in you after all._" Hollow Kujo said grudgingly, "_Feel it coursing through your brain, and never let go of that feeling._" His body was beginning to dissolve; Kujo knew he had seconds to drive home his point.

"I don't want to be a monster like you who loves battle, but I must be ready for it." Kujo told him sternly. "I am king here; I will never let you lord over me again."

"_You'd better not. But if you do, I will do what I promised: I will consume you, and obliterate you. If you don't want that to happen, just don't die. Be careful with my power. I'll have you know, it's not what your Visored friends think it is._"

* * *

The not-Kujo raised his hand and slashed down towards Lisa with the wave of energy he wielded, and Lisa dodged, flash stepping above him and swinging Hagurotonbo toward his head. He stopped her blade with a hand and slashed again.

Lisa jumped back, skidding in the dirt. Then the Hollow charged up white energy in his hand and blasted it at Lisa. Rose suddenly stepped in front of her and slashed away the beam, then pointed his sword forward. "Play, Kinshara," he said. "Kinshara Sokyoku Dai Jusanban: Fuun no Kikoeru (Golden Sal Tree Symphony the Thirteenth: Cacophony of Misfortune)!"

The creature quickly threw out its arms in defense as Rose's golden whip encircled it and began to bombard it with deafening sound waves. The Hollow's Bankai blasted out in retaliation, and blew Rose's Shikai away from it. Rose manipulated the whip expertly to lash out repeatedly at the creature, which repelled it with bursts of sand. It then blasted Rose with another Cero, and he effortlessly dodged around to the Hollow's other side.

Kazetora descended on the Hollow from above, now using Bankai to full effect. "Kitakaze Zangeki: Hyôsosai!" she shouted, and encased the Hollow in twenty feet of ice. She landed hard next to Rose, and Lisa appeared next to her. There appeared to be no movement from the Hollow within the glacier; then it rumbled, as if in anticipation of a momentous event. The ice crackled, then fractures appeared in its depths. It suddenly exploded outward, and the three combatants raised their weapons, ready to fight again.

Amid the mist remaining after the ice's decimation there appeared a dark figure. As they watched, the Hollow's gray linen wrappings began to rip and crack. Suddenly all of the bandages below the shoulders fell away, and the armor on the right shoulder broke apart, leaving Kujo's usual attire underneath. Only the mask and bandages on his left arm remained. Kujo's sealed Zanpakuto reformed in his hand, and suddenly their friend fell towards the ground. Kazetora ran forward and caught him as he fell, and he was limp in her arms.

"Please don't be dead." Kazetora pleaded.

Nothing happened for a few seconds, then Kujo coughed and sputtered like an old engine starting for the first time in years.

"_Why would you think that?_" he gasped. "_I made you a promise._"

Tears forming in her eyes, Kazetora embraced her friend. "I'm glad you're okay. I won't ask why your voice sounds like that."

"It's an unfortunate side effect of this particular power." Rose explained. "Don't let it unnerve you."

Kujo allowed his mask to dissipate. "I think I've had enough weird stuff happen for a while."

"Unfortunately it can't end here." Rose told them. "You're strong. We'll have to see how long you can maintain that mask in heavy combat, but-"

"Here's the thing, though," Kujo interrupted. "When I was in my inner world, and I defeated my Hollow, he told me about this power. It isn't used the way other Visoreds use their power."

"Well." Rose continued, looking troubled. "Our training methods probably won't have any effect."

"It seems like I can't actually summon that mask again, until the opportune moment." Kujo explained.

"It pains me to say it," Rose told him, "But it may be that you will have to figure it out yourself."

"This worries you." Kujo pointed out.

"Yes. A solo training in the field for an unknown form of Visored power could be dangerous."

"But it's all we've got." Kujo said.

"Exactly. That's why I'm not protesting. I think you can do it."

"Thanks. I can't tell you-" BOOOOOMMMM!

The entrance to the cave had just exploded open, and Ichigo Kurosaki dropped down out of the smoke, landing next to them.

"Quite a dramatic entrance, Kurosaki-_fukutaichou_ (lieutenant)." Rose said.

"It's- It's urgent." Ichigo panted. "One of Stealth Force's agents in Hueco Mundo (Hollow Kingdom) just returned with vital information on the Hollow army. She says she found their hideout, and was able to listen in on their conversation. Apparently our friend Rojo was one participant."

"Take us to her. Let's go!" said Rose.

"This is something big. I can feel it!" shouted Kujo.

They sprinted together toward the hole in the ceiling.

* * *

The group of Hollow soldiers trooped across a plain of coal black dirt, pockmarked with craters bubbling with molten rock. At their head strode Rojo, his white cape fluttering in the harsh, smoky wind. They approached an imposing, jagged black rock thrust out of the plateau like a knife in flesh. Rojo and two warriors scaled the fang of stone and walked towards a vertical wall of rock. Rojo examined the surface and found a mark scratched into the stone: 水, the kanji for water. Rojo triumphantly caressed the stone with one hand. "At last, I have found you, my old…friend." He laughed, high and cold. My time, he thought to himself, is here now.


	2. Chapter 2: Entering the Void

The air in the meeting hall was cold and unforgiving. The room was lined with onyx pillars, its floor black marble shot through with veins of white. A bone-white table dominated the center of the hall, and at its head sat the strange pale robed figure with the black gauntlets and knives. His face still could not be seen. Interestingly, engraved on the table in front of him was a black Roman numeral one, and continuing around the table were numerals counting up to ten. At the black figure's side, in front of the white numeral two, was a man with the lower half of a spiked skull sheathing his face, in a pure white three piece suit, and barely visible on his lapel was the same number. The seat next to him was empty, but in its place on the table's surface was a red three. A woman with pure black hair and three spikes extending vertically above her left eye in an azure gown patterned with the symbol IV was in the chair adjacent to that one, then another empty chair. The last person in the room was Amarillo, sitting sullenly in the chair before his yellow six. His torso was wrapped in bandages, remnants of the grave injuries dealt to him by Kujo and Kazetora.

"We are the only ones left here," said their leader. "I have sent the others to each of their stations. We have finally advanced one step farther into the plan, as Rojo has informed me he is in possession of his nemesis at last."

"So what will we do, my lord?" asked the black haired woman.

"I am pleased to hear you are so eager, Azurelle." The glowing white eyes narrowed in the shadows. "The Shinigami have taken the bait. We will trap their strongest agents, and then we will attack. Azurelle, you will go to the Dangai, and keep them occupied there."

The woman nodded. "It will be done."

"Good. Shiro, Amarillo, you will remain here with me. Then we will lead our legions into the Human World, and do what our predecessors failed to do."

"What of those under Rojo's command?" asked Amarillo. The man in white remained mysteriously silent.

"Rojo will capture that upstart Kujo Shihoin and destroy him, along with his other prisoner. He will then join us in our invasion." The man clenched his fists on the table. "Soul Society's end is nigh. We will do what we can so that the Espadas did not die in vain."

* * *

_Soul Society, the Senkaimon…_

"Where is Kazetora? She was supposed to be here half an hour ago!" exclaimed Simura Kiraiyane irritably.

"Calm down. She said she had something to do first." Okanade reminded her.

"We're on a deadline." Kiraiyane said, a little subdued.

The two captains and their lieutenants had been waiting to begin their mission in the Dangai, but they were two members short. A sudden thud on the courtyard stones caused them to whirl around.

"Finally! You're a little-" yelled Kiraiyane. "Oh, wait. It's just Hisagi."

"Thanks for the nice greeting, Kiraiyane-taichou (Captain)," said Shuhei.

"Why, you-" Simura growled.

"Calm down, Simura. She's coming now. Look." Okanade told her. Behind him Nanao rolled her eyes.

Kazetora jogged across the courtyard, and stopped next to her companions. "Sorry! Sorry! Kujo has finally conquered his Hollow. I've just gotten back."

"What's the news on this spy who returned?" asked Kiraiyane's lieutenant, Momo Hinamori.

"I don't really know what's going on. Kujo, Ichigo and Captain Otoribashi went to meet her." Kazetora said.

"Whatever. At any rate, we have to get going to the Dangai." Okanade said. "Nanao, open the gate!" he commanded.

His lieutenant raised her hand and thrust it at the Senkaimon. It rumbled, and the huge portal began to open. A sliver of eerie green light shonethrough the crack. The doors swung aside to reveal a vertical, rippling wall of clear energy, which showed an endless plateau of gray rock, riddled with deep crevices, oriented as though the group were looking down from above.

"Jeez, that view makes me sick to my stomach!" Kazetora said uneasily.

"Never mind that. Let's move out!" shouted Simura. The three captains and their lieutenants dashed forward through the doors and into open space. Suddenly they were in midair. They soared down and alighted among the rocks, then began to spread out, searching for Hollow reiatsu.

"Do you feel anything?" Okanade asked Nanao.

"No, but we should keep looking." She said.

The two continued to search about, steadily increasing in distance from the others.

Simura and Kazetora regrouped.

"I don't think there would be anything this close to the entry point." Kazetora told her. "We should go with Okanade. He seems to have the right idea."

"Agreed." The four began to walk in the direction that Okanade had gone.

They rounded a corner, and suddenly they detected the sound of swords clashing.

"This escalated quickly!" shouted Shuhei as they dashed toward the wayward Okanade, now beset by about ten Hollow soldiers.

Simura lunged at the nearest one and took it in the gut with a swing of her sword.

The Hollow disintegrated, and the one next to it grabbed up his comrade's Zanpakuto.

The soldier now wielding two swords, he whirled them at his assailant, and Kiraiyane caught them both on her daito's long blade. She raised her free hand. "Hado no Yon: Byakurai (Way of Destruction #4: Pale Lightning)!" The Hollow fell away, his chest pierced by a shaft of crackling white energy.

Two more charged towards her, and one raised both hands, charging a blast of red energy in each one, and fired them at her.

"Snap, Tobiume (Flying Plum Tree)!" Momo shouted, her sword gaining several silver hooks and unleashing a blast of red fire which blew away the second soldier.

"Break free, Rogetsu (Imprisoned Moon)!" yelled Simura. "Wangetsu Taiho (Crescent Blaster)!"

A burst of energy charged in the hole in the blade of her Shikai, and blasted out in a beam of silver light that disintegrated the Cero-firing Hollow and another behind him.

"Bankai! Kazero Kamaitachi (Wind Lock Sickle Weasel)!" yelled Okanade. He fired a massive burst from his bow which tore through two more, and then he unleashed a flurry of smaller wind arrows to impale three of the remaining Hollows. The straggler of the group glanced quickly around at his fallen companions, and then made a run for it. He disappeared into a crevice that led into pure darkness.

The six Shinigami approached the crack in the rock.

"Think it's a trap?" asked Kazetora.

"If it is, we're in trouble, but it's the only lead we've got." Nanao pointed out.

"Whatever. Let's go." Okanade said.

The warriors stepped forward, and jumped into shadow.

* * *

_Seiretei, Soul Society…_

Jushiro Ukitake sat in his chair in the commander's office. He was waiting for his messenger to return, and contemplating the woman standing in front of his desk. She was of average height, with shoulder length black hair framing intelligent eyes with sky blue irises. She wore the Special Forces backless uniform, with the kanji for two embroidered on the left lapel a standard set of hakama trousers and a black bandanna around her neck, meant to conceal the face when pulled up. Sheathed at an angle in her belt was a kodachi short sword with a multi-faceted pewter cross guard and an orange tsuka.

All of this Kujo Shihoin saw as he and Ichigo entered the captain's office.

"Ah, Shihoin-taichou. Come in." Ukitake said. It was a firm statement, not unkind, but commanding.

"Commander Ukitake." Kujo replied. "I am ready to do anything you may ask."

"Well it turns out there is a task of much importance I have for you. This is Ankura Ryudan, the third seat of the 2nd Division." Ukitake indicated the woman in front of him.

"Captain Shihoin." The woman addressed Kujo respectfully, but not overly so. "You hold a strong name. And I have heard from my captain that I will address you as leader of the Stealth force as well. I am honored to serve with one of the Shihoin clan."

"Thank you." Kujo said. "On the subject of names, yours, Ryudan, means 'Way of the Dragon.' You must be a fearsome warrior."

Ankura inclined her head. "More is at stake here than the pride of the clan, however."

"Go on." Kujo said.

"I have been to hell and back." She smiled. "I speak literally."

Kujo was slightly unnerved by the easiness with which she said this. And was that relish that he heard in her tone? Maybe she is _too_ much of a fearsome warrior, he thought.

"I'll clarify. I am the agent assigned to monitor the region of Hueco Mundo where the Hollow army's base is located. I hid in their throne room and managed to overhear a report from one of their agents. They mentioned garrisoning soldiers in old Togabito bases, and searching for someone who the superior called his subordinate's weakness."

"Togabito?" asked Ichigo.

"That's what they said," replied Ankura.

"What are Togabito?" Kujo asked.

"I've met them before." Ichigo said grimly. "They're the Sinners of Hell, and they tried to kill my family to get me to release them."

"Hell. Interesting." Ukitake mused. "Ichigo, you may have solved our first riddle. I am sending you three to Hell to investigate this mystery."

"Sending us…to Hell?" asked Kujo. "I think this is more than a three person job."

"Yes. So do I." Ukitake said. "Enter!" he called.

The door to his left creaked open, and two old friends entered: Captain Byakuya Kuchiki and Lieutenant Renji Abarai of 6th Division.

"Hello, Kujo." Renji said, grinning.

"That's_ Captain _Kujo," Kujo said, but he smiled just the same.

Byakuya and Renji strode over and stood next to the three.

"Hmm. We need six." Ukitake said. "Konsho! You're joining them."

"Wonderful!" Ukitake's lieutenant exclaimed. "I crave action!"

He flash stepped over to the group.

"Jeez. You're a lively one." Renji grumbled. "Have too much caffeine or something?"

"You would if you just sat around here all day." Konsho told him.

"Time to go to Hell, people," smirked Kujo as Renji started to reply, clearly about to state that if he hated being bored, he would do something about it.

* * *

The fourth General, Azurelle, was incredulous to see six Shinigami come through the secret entrance to her base.

"You idiot!" she yelled at the Hollow who had fled into the hole. "You led them right to us!"

"Sorry, ma'am! Don't kill me!" the soldier groveled at her feet.

"Powerful beyond compare, my ass!" said Kazetora scornfully.

"Have you come to die? I can compensate." Azurelle said.

Kazetora stepped forward, drawing her Zanpakuto and pointing it at the Arrancar. "I'll be the one to compensate for that."

"Will you?" came a throaty voice from the shadows to Azurelle's right. A tall, green-haired woman in a lime colored tank top and white bell bottom pants stepped from the darkness. She had short horns sprouting from her temples. On Azurelle's left there appeared a thin girl in a sky blue dress with the same black hair and three bone-white spikes extending from above her right eye. The green haired one held a pair of green war axes in her hands, glimmering as if made of pure emerald, and the other held a katana with a white tsuba and tsuka and a light blue edge on its bleach colored blade.

The Shinigami were suddenly surrounded.

"You take the creepy one." Kazetora told Simura. "I've got that one." She indicated Azurelle.

"I guess that leaves you and me." Okanade smiled at the other girl, who just stared at him coldly. Gee, what a nice person you are, he thought.

Azurelle turned to a table that stood behind her, and took hold of something on it. Kazetora thought that a strangely normal action, but she was still surprised when her opponent raised two deadly looking silver sickles.

Gritting her teeth, Kazetora lunged forward. "Cleave open the heavens, Sosaiko!" she yelled as she released her Shikai and attacked.

Suddenly Azurelle was behind her, and Kazetora just managed to sweep aside the lethal blades as they descended towards her. She jumped back.

"What…was that?" She could have sworn she had felt herself slow down as she approached her target.

"Care to try again?" Azurelle smiled cunningly.

Kazetora flash stepped behind her opponent and spun, slashing at the back of her neck. Azurelle should have died, but she blocked easily.

"My blade was a millimeter from you! How could you have blocked it?!" Kazetora exclaimed incredulously.

"You have seen it, haven't you? No? Very well, I'll enlighten you." Azurelle crossed her arms, letting her sickles hang in the air, unmoving. "Each of us Generales has a unique ability, which comes from the way we were created."

"How's that?" asked Kazetora suspiciously.

"You must know, of course, that Aizen used the Hogyoku (Breakdown Sphere) to "Shinigamify" the Hollows that he then called the Espadas. It was also used to create us."

"But Aizen is imprisoned, and the Hogyoku along with him!" protested Kazetora. "What you're implying is impossible!"

"No." Azurelle smiled. "It's not. Our master knows how to use the sphere much more proficiently than Aizen did, and he shaped each of our abilities with… what is the word for this…artistic devotion and imagination." She leveled her weapons at Kazetora. "My ability is…to manipulate time!"

Immediately she was right behind Kazetora again. Her sickle opened a cut on Kazetora's back as she jumped away, spinning around.

"Aah!" Kazetora winced at the pain of her injury. She pointed Sosaiko and launched a volley of lightning bolts at Azurelle.

"Not holding back, are you!" yelled Azurelle gleefully. As the bolts approached her, they slowed and stopped, and Azurelle ran past them, freezing Kazetora as well. She raised her sickles and cleaved down at her target. "You're finished!"

And a rushing burst of green reiatsu exploded from under their edges.

Kazetora got to her feet as Azurelle looked on, astonished. Standing in front of Kazetora was her lieutenant, Shuhei Hisagi. He wielded two kusigaramas, pinwheel-like blades attached to long metal spikes and linked together by a long chain. "Reap, Kazeshini (Death Wind)!"

"So the lieutenant saves the day. How clichéd." Azurelle said. "I have to admit, that's a scary looking weapon."

"Yes. Kazeshini, my Zanpakuto. Surely, it was meant to take life, wouldn't you think?"

"You think that will scare me? Hardly." Azurelle stopped looking impressed and grinned maniacally. "Psych!"

She slammed the pommels of her sickles together and pulled them apart. A string of pure black reiastsu now connected them. She threw one into the air and swung it around until it stopped, forming a perfect circle. "Annihilate…"

_**Fade To Black**_


	3. Chapter 3: Revelations, Reprise

An emaciated old man sat on the precipice of a tall white tower; his feet hung over the edge, dangling into an endless void that stretched into darkness below. His tower was surrounded by many more like it, jutting out of the blackness like uneven, blocky teeth. He could hear the anguished cries of his fellows, for they were prisoners in this place, many for so long that they had forgotten their own identities. He took a shaky breath, and coughed as his lungs filled with the harsh, inadequate air. The man jerked upright as he heard a scream of terror. Suddenly the rampart adjacent to him exploded outward, and the prisoners on top of it plummeted into the void, yelling helplessly. The old man scrambled to his feet and hobbled over to the edge where the next tower started. He was hesitant, but he leapt, screaming, across the opening between them.

Barely landing the jump, he looked back. The tower he had been on had just been crushed by a massive, mottled gray hand. Rising above the white surfaces was a colossal, skeletal being. Its torso was a lattice of bleached rib bones. The creature's muscular gray shoulders were protected by bronze plates, and the glowing yellow orbs of its eyes blazed in the sockets of its skull. The man sighed in relief; the Kushanada had not seen him, but was pursuing something else down on the blue walkway between the buildings. Crawling to where he could see what was going on, he noticed six human-sized figures running, the monster stomping along in their wake. There was one woman and five men, two of them wearing long white coats, and the others wearing robe-like black uniforms, and all of them carried swords. As the prisoner looked on, the taller of the white coated men drew his katana and yelled something inaudible. His blade glowed magenta and released into a cloud of fluttering pink petals, like cherry blossoms. The Kushanada faltered and its knees buckled, its torso having been bisected by the man's blade. As it crashed through the walkway and plummeted into darkness, the prisoner noticed, on the edge of his hearing, the rumbling hum that had always signaled the approach of more of the creatures. He watched the group of people on the walkway converse briefly, and then continue their traverse of the walkway. Through the haze of his wonder and exhaustion, the man wondered to himself, who _were_ these people?

* * *

Kujo had seen many strange things in his life, but his excursion into Hell was a first. The endless sea of white towers, the multitude of gray-clothed sinners, and most of all, the army of colossal skeletons chasing him were things so foreign that he was terrified. Two more of the skeletons, which Ryudan had referred to as "Kushanada (Hell's Will)" now converged on their group. Kujo sprung into action. He slashed his hand in a wide arc, yelling "Hado no Nanaju: Dankutsume (Way of Destruction #70, Rending Dark Claw)!" The Kushanada fell back, Kujo's spell severing its head with a wave of black energy.

The second one loomed ahead, and Renji lunged towards its huge skull. "Howl, Zabimaru!" He slashed the skeleton with his Shikai and the blades sparked off of the hard bone. "Wha-" Renji choked as the creature lashed out with a colossal fist. Renji barely dodged, reappearing next to Kujo. The Kushanada's foot descended toward them, but Ryudan was already there. Drawing her Zanpakuto, she cut a wide rent through the monster's leg, which disintegrated, causing the entire being to fall towards the black void below. Continuing on, the six of them reached something unexpected: a dead end. Ichigo walked to the edge, and peered down into the darkness.

"This is it. We have to jump!" he said.

"Is that really a good idea?" asked Kujo.

"Trust me. I've been through here before." Ichigo reassured him.

"So have I. This is the right way." Renji said firmly.

Kujo shook his head, a little uneasy. Nevertheless, he led the way down into the chasm.

"We'll have to bypass this section entirely! Go through the water!" Ichigo shouted.

Kujo looked down. Indeed, there was only an endless plane of rippling liquid below them, speckled with tiny islands. The Shinigami accelerated at blinding speed and crashed into the sea. Descending into seemingly endless water, Kujo began to doubt they were really going the right way. Suddenly, his vision cleared, and he was high in the sky over a plateau of black stone, pocked with craters, many of them bubbling with red-hot magma. They were unencumbered in their descent for another five hundred feet or so, but Kujo quickly sensed something was wrong. "Shouldn't they have attacked by now if they were here?!" he yelled to Ryudan.

"You doubt too much, Shihoin-taichou!" she called back. "They are down here, I know it."

Kujo quickly found out he was right; as soon as they were about a hundred feet up, a red Cero blast ripped the air open, splitting their group apart and blasting them in separate directions. Kujo grunted in pain as he struck the ground at an angle. Tumbling along the rocks, Kujo grunted again as his body crashed into a vertical surface. He rolled over, and clambered to his feet. As Kujo raised his head, he looked right into a face. It was a grinning skull, and Kujo choked in surprise and backpedaled away from it.

"You should really calm down," chided Byakuya as he landed lightly next to Kujo.

"You got here fast! I'm amazed at your prowess…in falling into our clutches, Kujo Shihoin!" shouted the sibilant voice Kujo had come to loathe. Rojo stood high above them, his feet resting upon the flat top of a cube of amber crystal, which sat at the precipice of a rock spire. "This is the last stop for you."

"We've only come to kill you. Don't be so dramatic, I'm sure your death will be nothing to speak of." Kujo glared at the Arrancar.

"Feisty, feisty. Look here, and you will see that nothing will stand between me and my destiny." Rojo pointing down at the monolith on which he was perched.

Kujo looked into the crystal's depths, unable to pierce the gloom. Then he saw, in the faint glow rising from it, the outline of a humanoid body. "Who's in there?" he said.

"The one they have called my downfall…the forgotten member of the original Gotei 13 captains."

Kujo leaned toward Byakuya. "Either this guy's a total nutjob or there's a really important person trapped in there."

"If he is telling the truth, we need to open that prison." Byakuya reasoned.

"Done!" Kujo suddenly shouted, lunging towards the block of crystal and drawing his Zanpakuto. "Engulf, Sunaarashi!"

But instead of releasing orange dust as Kujo expected, his blade dissolved into light cobalt blue sand, and rushed toward its target. The cloud crashed hard against the gem's golden surface and the ground rumbled with the force of its attack. Is the Hell's Miasma affecting my Shikai? Kujo wondered, astonished and worried.

"Not going to work, Kujo. Only my power can break that seal." Rojo raised his escrima stick and drew its concealed blade partway out. "I have waited until now, so that I can kill you and then her." The red blade hummed and glowed crimson with reiatsu. "Hunt! Luna de Sangre (Bloodmoon)!"

The energy blasted the ground, and whipped up a cloud of dust. Above them in the sky, a red moon began to shine out of the blackness. The shafts of light alit upon the shifting debris, and the cloud exploded outward, revealing Rojo, his mask now sporting a line of white fangs on the bottom edge, and his body much more feral, covered in white armor. His hair flew back in a mane of crimson, and a white tail streaked with red trailed behind him. "You will now die by the power of the Tercero, Rojo Lycaonis!"

Suddenly a loud rumbling hum resonated out of the surrounding plain, and an army of Kushanada materialized, rising from the earth like zombies. The giant creatures lumbered en masse toward the stone island.

"I've been able to avoid alerting them until now." Rojo told Kujo, baring pointed fangs. "No matter! This is a perfect opportunity to show you my true strength." He raised his arms, spreading ten silver claws. They all glowed red, and energy charged in both of Rojo's palms. Swiping his left paw towards the oncoming monsters, he flashed red reiatsu from his claws. Instantly the whole line of them fell to the rocks with a boom, cut in half.

"Were those…Ceros?" Kujo asked, amazed at Rojo's brutality.

"You catch on fast! My Resurreccion's ability is to manipulate Ceros into more powerful and dangerous forms!" He smiled maliciously. "Here! Why don't you try one yourself!"

Kujo raised his sword just in time to have one feeble barrier between him and the lethal strike. Its force knocked him back several yards, and his left gauntlet shattered, revealing the sleeve of his shihakusho. Gritting his teeth, Kujo shrugged the cracked remains of the armor off onto the ground and leapt high into the air. He flash stepped behind Rojo, but the Arrancar casually backhanded him right into the spire of black rock.

"Bakudo no Rokujuichi: Rikujokoro (Way of Binding #61: Six Light Rod Prison)!" shouted Byakuya, and six shards of light slammed into Rojo's midsection.

"You think to stop me with such trickery, Shinigami?" Rojo smirked.

"No. I will end you with this." Byakuya told him. He dropped his sword point down into the ground.

"Why would you do that!?" Rojo screeched with laughter.

"Bankai." Byakuya stared disdainfully as two columns of katana blades sprouted from the ground on either side of him. "Scatter. Senbonzakura Kageyoshi (Vibrant Display of a Thousand Cherry Petals).

The column of swords all glowed pink like Byakuya's Shikai had, and dispersed into millions of petals that obscured their sight of the surrounding area.

"Goukei (Throat Scene), Senbonzakura Kageyoshi!" Byakuya ordered.

He jumped away and his blades surrounded the Arrancar in a sphere, crushing in on him with a rushing noise and a glare of magenta light.

The smoke dispersed, and Byakuya could see Rojo staggering to his feet, his armor rent in several places.

"I can tell you weren't expecting that to finish me off. You're not surprised at all." Rojo said.

"No, I'm not. I was just waiting for…"

Suddenly a katana blade thrust through Rojo's body from the back. And Kujo rose up, his eyes burning murderously. "Let that be the end of you." Rojo glowed red and vanished in a corona of bloody light.

"That seems too easy." Byakuya told him.

"You'd be right in thinking so!" screeched Rojo's voice, and he smashed Kujo into the rocks again.

"Gemelos Cero (Twins Zero Blast)." He said as he continued to batter Kujo relentlessly, slamming him against the floor of the plateau and through rock formations. "A technique that allows me to create clones of myself out reiatsu. That whole time you were fighting a fake! As long as that is so, you won't know if it's really me talking to you, or if it is my claws piercing your body. Heck, in the end you might not have the honor of dying by my actual hands!"

"You think..this will be…so easy, do you!?" Kujo grunted as he was hit again. He threw his sword in the direction he thought was down, and yelled desperately, "Bankai!" But no response came from Sunaarashi.

"Ha! Even now, your Bankai deserts you, and you are left with no defense. Hiyaaah!"

Kujo was sent sailing across the plain. Rojo slashed both hands upward and brought them down, firing two Ceros. "Now turn to dust. You are finished." His voice had lost its gleeful quality, as if he wanted his opponent dead at all costs.

Kujo moved his head with difficulty, looking at the rapidly receding figure in the distance, then back at where he was headed. Ha! Now's my chance! He thought.

And Kujo flash stepped out of the way of the Ceros, and they roared past, headed straight for…the crystal cage. With a massive explosion the entire spire was ripped to shreds. A column of red-orange reiatsu burst forth from the crater where it had been.

Kujo and Byakuya appeared in front of it. Neither of them noticed Rojo materializing at the edge of the hole.

The reiatsu dispersed with a rumble and an outpouring of red light, revealing a human figure. It was a tall woman in the standard shihakusho and an orange sash supporting, in a blue-green sheath, a daito with a sky blue tsuka interspersed with red, a silver tsuba shaped like a drop of water, and a silver pommel cap with a spike on it. She raised her head, revealing intense orange eyes framed by long emerald hair.

"Rojo!" She suddenly exclaimed in a powerful, elegant voice. "It's been a long time! I'll kill you for imprisoning me here!"

"Who…are you?" asked Kujo, nervous. He did not know if he should trust this newcomer.

She fixed those eyes, those burning eyes, on Kujo's face. "I am the original captain of Squad 13, Kumiko Mizure. I have been imprisoned here for a long time. How long has it been?"

Shakily, Kujo replied, "A thousand five hundred years since the beginning of Gotei 13, if that's what you want to know."

"I know you, Kujo Shihoin," she said.

Kujo looked around at Byakuya, and saw that he was not moving. He snapped his fingers in front of his partner's eyes. No response.

"Did you…freeze time?" he asked her.

"Yes, but only momentarily. It's a forbidden spell. Don't you be telling anyone."

"Sure." Kujo was amazed that she had cast it without even a name. How strong was she?

"I can tell that you are wondering how I could do that so easily." She had her gaze focused on something to Kujo's right. "I'll let him explain."

Kujo whirled around. Nothing there. "What do you mean, 'him'?"

"_Is this just going to be a repeat of the first time, Kujo?_"

"Oh, come on. Not you again!" Kujo now noticed his Hollow standing next to Mizure.

"_I have an important truth to reveal to you, Kujo._" The Hollow smiled.

"What truth?"

"_That your whole life until your involvement in Soul Society has been a lie._"

"What!? What nonsense are you talking!?"

"_No nonsense. I'm saying you are not who you think you are._" The Hollow smiled again. "_And I am not who you think I am._"

"Just get to the point or I might not believe you when you're finished!" Kujo was flustered now.

"_Fine, then. All this time you have thought that you are son of Bureida Shihoin, brother of Yoruichi Shihoin. You have believed that he disappeared in your young years, and you don't know why. You have known that your aunt Yoruichi fled the Soul Society after helping criminals escape. This is mostly lies. Finally, you think the man in the pharaoh's mask is your Zanpakuto? I'll let you in on something: he isn't. _I _am Sunaarashi. I summoned him as a fragment of my spirit so that I could pretend to be your Hollow._

"So I don't have a Hollow? Is this what you were saying last time?" Kujo demanded.

"_Wrong again. This is the final truth. Are you prepared to hear it?_"

"All right…if I must. This is too intriguing."

"_Okay. I am your Zanpakuto, but I am still a Hollow spirit. This is because…you are not a Shinigami._"

"That's…impossible! Of course I am!"

"_You are…whatever, I'll say it directly. You're a Hollow."_

* * *

"No! It can't be!" Kujo was almost crying now.

"_You are. And until you accept it, you won't defeat anyone in battle. You need this knowledge to survive. If I hadn't intervened in your past fights, you'd be dead!_"

"How is it that nobody knows about this?"

"_I don't know how it happened, or why you look like a Shinigami. That's for you to find out."_

"I know something…at least about why you thought you were a Shinigami this whole time."

Kujo jumped; he'd forgotten Mizure was still there. "How could you know?" he said to her, turning his face in her direction.

"I would know because I am a Hollow as well. The first like you. There are many of us. I recognized your true identity the first time I saw you!"

"_It's time for you to kill those Arrancars calling themselves Generals. Take this, and you will access your true power." _The Hollow pulled his sword out of his belt and held it out to Kujo.

He took it silently, still shaken by the truth. "When my Shikai turned blue…and my Bankai wouldn't activate…it was because I was about to learn what you just told me…" He slipped the new Zanpakuto into his own sash, and dropped the sheath of his old sword to the ground. As he observed, it cracked, broke, and disintegrated into ashes in the dirt. Kujo took it as a symbol of the untruth that had been his life until this point.

Mizure touched Kujo's shoulder. "If there's one thing you will find in the years to come, it is that fate itself governs our lives." She looked at him knowingly. "People like us, I mean. We are few in this time and place; unique." She stepped forward and drew her sword. "My powers are still a little repressed, but returning, so I should be able to at least do a Shikai. Are you ready? The spell will end soon."

Kujo drew his new katana. It felt strange in his hands. _You will get used to it. One day, you will understand why you have been lied to about this. I'm sorry I had to be the one to tell you._ It was a last echo of his Hollow's voice.

"Now!"

Suddenly Byakuya jerked and said "Who are you?!" Kujo assumed he had been about to ask that when Mizure's spell had begun.

"I'll explain later, Byakuya." Kujo said. He looked over his left shoulder at where the Hollow had been before. He smiled sadly. Thank you…Sunaarashi.

_Hm! Wrong yet again. Let me tell you…my real name._

Kujo listened.

All right. Everything is falling apart.

The General Rojo, to say the least, was astonished. Dang it! Why did I let him trick me into releasing her?

He started to speak. "Mizure-"

"Yeah, whatever, Rojo. You'll kill me, rip me apart…so clichéd. Time to end this."

"Is it? I was just getting started." Rojo raised his claws. "I'll end the both of you!"

Rojo lunged toward Kujo and Mizure, murderous light in his eyes.

"You're very uptight." Kujo told him, now standing behind the Arrancar.

"Wha-" Rojo choked. How is he so fast?!

Kujo swung his sword toward his opponent's back. Back flipping, Rojo avoided the strike. Kujo flash stepped above him and brought his weapon down again. Rojo used his own flash step to dodge, and he skidded back several yards. "That was a Sonido! What trickery is this?!"

"Have you ever met a Hollow who was this much like a Shinigami?" Kujo asked.

Realization dawned in the Arrancar's eyes, and he glanced at Mizure. She nodded, her eyes fixed in a hard stare.

"It can't be." Rojo was starting to yell now. "You've had Shinigami reiatsu until now!"

"That's because I've realized my true identity. And…my true powers." Kujo pointed his sword out to the left. He twisted it so that the edge faced straight up, perpendicular to the ground. Staring with determination and anger at his enemy, Kujo spoke.

"**I accept."**


	4. Chapter 4: Hollow Rising

"I accept."

Rojo watched in fear and awe as a torrent of black flames, all outlined in glowing blue reiatsu, blazed over the figure of his opponent. They roared and crackled, then died out. Littering the ground around Kujo's feet were the remnants of his gauntlets, boots, chains, and haori coat. The inferno had left him standing only in his shihakusho.

"What-is happening?" Rojo whispered, unable to speak clearly because of his amazement.

Kujo's eyes were shut, his face peaceful. Suddenly, another figure stepped out from behind him, seemingly sprouting from Kujo's shadow. It was a figure in a black tunic, his legs and feet covered by gray leggings and black boots. His face was obscured in a dark cowl of black fabric, and two points of blue light shone out of the darkness in the opening. His whole body glowed dark blue, and he stood next to Kujo as though to protect him.

"_Let's go._" A Hollow echo reverberated through Kujo's voice. Wordlessly, the figure flashed and became dark fire, which streamed into its master's outstretched hand, forming into a kodachi with a navy blue tsuka and a bronze tsuba shaped like Sunaarashi's, but wider and sporting two spikes extending perpendicularly from the blade collar. Kujo's chest exploded with black reiatsu, forming a Hollow hole just below the nape of his neck. A single tattered, dark gray ribbon draped itself over his shoulders. Kujo's new form opened its eyes, and revealed its black sclera and dark blue irises.

"_The tables have turned, I think,_" Kujo said.

"We'll see about that!" Rojo clenched his fists.

"_No. I don't think that you fully understand. No, not at all._" Kujo raised his new Zanpakuto in the same stance as before. "_Hoard._" He took another breath. "_Kokatsuna _(The Thief)." Kujo's sword blade lengthened, and gained a pair of grooves close to the tip.

"A new Shikai…" breathed Mizure, now standing right behind them.

Kujo turned. "_What? What's wrong?_"

"It's just…none of us have ever had our Zanpakuto change when we achieve Jikojitsugen (Self Realization)." She looked at him skeptically.

"_True. But Kokatsuna told me one thing about himself before leaving. He said I'll have to figure the rest out myself._"

"Enough talking already!" yelled Rojo. "I still exist, you know!"

"_Very eager, aren't you?_" said Mizure. "_I'll just have to transform and join Kujo in destroying you._"

Kujo looked and saw she had now revealed her true Hollow form. Her bare feet and hands were adorned with bone white claws, and a Hollow hole punched through her midriff. Her eyes, half-lidded, were glowing orange, surrounded by black sclera. Drawing her sword, she leapt high overhead.

_Attack now, Kujo. _Her voice rang out clearly in his mind.

_What? How can you do that?_

_It's just another ability! Now are you going to strike or not?!_

_So sorry…_ he murmured, and then he charged without another thought.

"What are you going to do?" Rojo sneered.

"_I don't even know. It's up to her what happens to you._" Kujo narrowed his eyes. "_Or is that just what people are saying these days?_"

Rojo gasped and looked to the sky.

"_Raise the tide! Umimushi _(Lariat of Ocean Waves)_!_" Mizure lashed her sword downwards as it became a thin wooden rod capped on both ends with an iron disc. Sprouting from the upper end of it was a whip of rushing seawater, which descended rapidly on the Arrancar.

"NOOOOO!" screamed Rojo, and he was drowned in a deluge of sea foam and broken rocks as the highly pressurized whip struck him.

Mizure wasn't done. She pointed the weapon straight at her opponent. "_Umite no Zangeki_ (Strike of the Sea God)_!_" The compressed water was instantly released, and rushed forth in a torrent of power, crushing Rojo even further into the ground.

The Arrancar staggered to his feet.

"_Did you think we were finished?_" Kujo asked. He flash stepped in and swung his strange blade. It collided with Rojo's claws.

"That wasn't much of a swing." Rojo commented.

"_No? Watch this._" The contact between them rippled with black energy. "_Kokatsuna. Haonusumu _(Stealing the Blade)."

SHINK! Kujo lunged past his opponent, and Rojo yelled in pain as his hand fell to the ground.

"_Kokatsuna's ability is to take your Zanpakuto's reiatsu and sharpen itself with it. Your hand is gone because you let my blade touch yours._"

"Too…too bad!" he grinned maniacally.

"_Scared?_"

"Never!" Rojo snapped as his hand regenerated instantly. "Chosoku Saisei…high-speed regeneration."

He slashed with his newly healed limb and slashed Kujo's shoulder.

Kujo looked at his injury, wincing a little. Then his reiatsu appeared in obscuring black smoke over the wound. When it cleared, there was no cut. "_Indeed…you forgot, didn't you! Although I don't know how you could!_" He grinned back at Rojo. "_I am…a Hollow!_" He raised his hand, pointing his index finger at Rojo's chest. Cobalt energy formed at its tip, and wavered, almost dissipating. Kujo gritted his teeth, still maintaining the grin, although he looked annoyed at something deep inside him. The reiatsu stabilized, forming a sphere in front of the finger. "_Cero_ (Zero Blast)_!_"

"HOW!" Rojo screamed, and he was obscured by a giant laser blast. The surrounding landscape was blown apart by the blast.

* * *

"_You've come a long way in a short time, Kujo._" Mizure said, smiling for the first time.

"_It's hard for me to form a Cero. I've never done it before._"

"_It's okay. It takes time to master, especially if you suddenly become a Hollow during a battle with one of the worst foes of this day and age._"

"I still have absolutely no idea…" panted Byakuya, "…what is going on."

"It's okay, Kuchiki." Kujo said, returning his face to its normal appearance. "I am still your former Third Seat, Captain of Squad Three, Kujo Shihoin."

"It will be strange," Byakuya admitted, "to have a captain who is a Hollow."

"Is it bad?"

"No, not really." Byakuya sighed. "Soul Society was taught a few lessons by Ichigo Kurosaki we can never forget."

"So-"

"_Kujo! Hollowfy again! Quickly!_"

Kujo did as he was told. As quickly as he could. For what he saw next freaked him out. A lot.

_RMMMMMMMMM..._

"Un…" Rojo's voice, filled with rage, sounded from the wreckage. "**Un…**UNFORGIVEABLE!"

BOOOMMMM!

"You will pay…you'll pay for trying to bring me low…the great General…ROJO LYCAONIS, THE ONE WHO"S GONNA KILL YOU!" He growled.

"_What's he doing?!_" Kujo yelled.

Rojo lifted up from the rubble, his armor nearly gone. His head was raised to the dark skies overhead. He breathed in. Red reiatsu glowed from him. Then it turned black. Pure black.

"_**Resurrección Segunda Etapa!"**_

* * *

_We must not forget the third party in this story…_

For the most part, Rinku Konsho was not really happy with his first field duty in…well forever, really.

His squad mostly sat around letting the other twelve squads deal with the Soul Society's problems. As such, he spent most of _his_ time…sitting around and letting the rest of his squad deal with its problems.

He didn't really consider the short amounts of time he spent actually fighting enough to count as being productive. So now that he was involved in the largest operation Soul Society had been conducting in his entire life…well, field duty was harder than he thought. After awhile letting some Arrancar bash him, Renji, and Ichigo across the rocky landscape, he decided to turn the tables.

The Arrancar had identified himself as Braun Montana, the fifth in his order. And just like Konsho, he seemed to be hopped up on too much caffeine.

"Howl, Zabimaru!" yelled Renji.

"Getsuga Tensho!" Ichigo shouted.

Braun punched both of their Zanpakuto away with his two very annoying, very painful brass knuckles.

The Arrancar, clad in brown leather armor, kicked Renji hard in the gut and smashed Ichigo into a rock formation.

Seeing his opening, Konsho charged, swinging his daito. His blade was instantly knocked aside by a wall of force, which promptly caused its wielder a lot of pain.

The annoying part was that Braun seemed to manipulate force in both the air and the earth with his brass knuckles. So far, he hadn't let any of them even touch him.

I've got to circumvent that defense somehow… said Konsho to himself. He had an idea.

"What? Do you think you finally know how to beat me?" screeched Braun in his obnoxiously high voice.

Man…I hate this guy so much, and I haven't even known him for an hour yet!

Konsho started running towards his opponent yet again. This time he leapt into the air above him. Placing the tip of his sword in the mouth of its scabbard, he said, "Look at me…" watching the reflection of his eye in the shard of mirror hanging from the pommel cap. "Kyoto (Blade of Narcissus)!"

The blade of Konsho's sword glittered and turned to reflective glass.

As he came down towards the Arrancar, Braun shouted, "Your Shikai looks easy to break!"

"Yeah, but am I just gonna let you touch it?" Konsho muttered.

"HA!" exclaimed Braun, and punched a huge hole through Konsho. Suddenly his body wavered and disappeared, and a cut appeared on Braun's back. Konsho materialized behind him.

"My Shikai is intended not to hit you with force or energy, but to make you think you know where I am. However, you'll always be wrong."

"We'll see about that- Wait, what?" Braun looked puzzled. "Weren't you behind me? On the other side? You came down in front of me, yet you cut my back when it was facing away from you."

"That's exactly what I mean, Arrancar." Konsho looked at him disdainfully. "I said, 'You'll always be wrong', did I not?"

"What is this trick of yours? What did you do?" Braun asked cunningly.

Konsho sighed and shifted his weight. "I released my Shikai about two minutes before you thought I did, but I manipulated your senses so that you didn't see me do it until you did." He paused. "However, that's not the only thing I changed. I reversed your vision and hearing so you looked for me over there. After that, I just walked up behind you and cut you."

"That's a really cowardly move, that's what I'd call it," said the Arrancar.

"As long as it works…" replied Konsho. "And as long as it pisses you off."

"RAAAAAAAHHH!" shouted Renji, bringing Zabimaru down on Braun's unsuspecting head. But Braun just grabbed the blade and hurled Renji away, where he landed next to Konsho.

"Why do I bother dealing with you lieutenant scum? I should teach you worms a lesson- wait what was that?!"

All of them listened. A faint rumble could be heard rolling over the plain.

"That was…the master's reiatsu." Braun muttered. "The signal."

"What are you talking about?" Ichigo asked, coming up behind Braun.

"It is time." Braun said.

* * *

Tranquil again in the Human World. Nothing moved. Nothing made a sound.

Rmmmmmm…

CRACK!

An enormous Garganta split the sky open wide. But darkness reigned within.

Standing a ways away on the roof of a skyscraper were Captains Ukitake, Soifon, Komamura, Hitsugaya, Zaraki, and finally Rukia Kuchiki, sister of Byakuya Kuchiki and lieutenant of Squad Thirteen.

She was a petite woman with violet eyes and short black hair wearing a short sleeved shihakusho and a lieutenant badge. Rukia had been unsure what her brother was doing in Hell, and she hoped he would return safely.

"Do you see anything in the Garganta, Captain Ukitake-uh, I mean, _Commander_ Ukitake?" she asked her former captain.

"Nothing in there. No reiatsu either, as of yet." Ukitake replied. Now he addressed the whole group. "Make no mistake; they are coming. Be ready."

* * *

They waited. An hour. Two hours. Three hours. Then, it happened.

_Thoom… Thoom… Thoom…_

Heavy footsteps sounded in the darkness. But still Rukia could see nothing in the gloom. She looked harder, straining to penetrate the shadow. Suddenly, she discerned the silhouettes of…hundreds, if not thousands of humanoid beings, marching in the darkness. Approaching steadily.

A line of white robed Hollow warriors stepped from the hole in the sky. Their masks were all featureless except for markings of various colors on the lower half. White, red, two shades of blue, brown, yellow, green, gold, and silver. The Arrancars were organized in columns organized by color. Walking at the front of the white column was a man in a white suit. Rukia couldn't clearly see his face. The only other unique figure was a man in a white coat lined with yellow, carrying a yellow bladed broadsword. He limped ahead of the yellow column as though injured, but healing.

Amarillo looked down at the small group of Shinigami on the building. "They beat us here. But there's so few of them!"

Shiro looked over at him, silent as the grave.

"How can such a miniscule number stop us?!" Amarillo gloated.

Shiro shook his head in irritation. He put his fingers against his head and pulled them away. Trailing his hand was a stream of smoky white material, which alit in the air next to him, forming a completely featureless human form.

"_You will never learn to respect your enemy's potential, will you? Those are Captains down there. Underestimate them and you will die quickly._"

"Whoa, you actually talk?" Amarillo exclaimed. "I didn't know that."

"_Of all of us, I'm the one you know the least about. Let's keep it that way._" Shiro, speaking through his "thought form" replied.

"Hey, just because I was made last doesn't mean you have to talk down to me. We're ordered by strength, not birth, like those pitiful normal Arrancar."

"_I know that, you idiot. I'm the second and you're the sixth. I can still talk down to you._"

"Shut up!" yelled Amarillo, lunging in Shiro's direction.

"Stop." The figure in black had finally arrived. "I didn't create you to fight each other like mindless animals. Save your ferocity for the Shinigami."

"Yes, Master," Amarillo grudgingly replied.

The black figure raised his white eyes toward the Captains on the roof ahead of them. His head could now be seen, and it was a horrifying sight. The pearly white eyes were surrounded by a helmet-like black mask, and centered in between the eyes was a faintly glowing purple sphere: _the Hogyoku_.

* * *

Blasts of black reiatsu rushed past Shuhei and Kazetora, streaming from the corona of darkness surrounding their opponent, Azurelle.

"She released her…Resurreccion, didn't she?" Kazetora asked her lieutenant.

"Yeah." Shuhei replied tersely. "I usually wouldn't have released Kazeshini until it became absolutely necessary."

"That ability of hers is hard to predict. I'm glad you released, otherwise I'd be dead." Kazetora thanked him.

"That probably means it was necessary." Shuhei said.

"Necessities…seem to be a theme here." Kazetora said firmly. "Bankai."

Tensho Sosaiko released in a torrent of green reiatsu and rushing wind. Now its swords were shaped like jagged cutlasses, white bladed, with spiky protrusions on the back edges and coming down from the tips. The chain between them had vanished, leaving behind two hooked hand guards extending over Kazetora's hands and reattaching to the other ends of the handles.

"You've made a mistake tangling with me, lieutenant." Azurelle's disembodied voice said. Her cocoon of black smoke dissipated with extreme anticlimax compared to the explosion that had begun her transformation. "Annihilate, Quimera (Returned Chimera Empress)."

A pair of dark gray Arrancar trousers had replaced the Arrancar's dress. She wore a navy blue coat with black flame-like patterns on the hem, shoulders, and lapels, as well as a serpent embroidered down the back. Long, sharp lion claws extended from Azurelle's knuckles and a lion skull rested on her head. "Here I come."

She lunged, swiping at Shuhei with catlike speed and accuracy. Unable to react fast enough, he was slashed on the shoulders and chest.

"HAAAH!" Kazetora struck with both of her swords at Azurelle's right side, but an ethereal python rose up from her back and parried the blades. It sank its fangs into her arm and threw her across the cave, shattering an entire wall and exposing it to the harsh green light outside.

Kazetora gritted her teeth against the pain of the bite, and yelled, "Shuhei, let's go! We need to be able to maneuver more effectively!"

Shuhei flash stepped past Azurelle and followed his captain through the opening.

"You won't get away, cowards!" Azurelle roared. She pursued.

Kazetora rose up above the opening, and caught the Arrancar by surprise with her Azumakaze Zangeki: Raisosai.

Azurelle slashed away the smoke created by the lightning strike and lunged forward.

Shuhei, appearing behind her, snared her with the chain of his Zanpakuto. "Hado no Juichi (Way of Destruction #11)!" He tapped his other blade against the chain. "Tsuzuri Raiden (Bound Lightning)!"

The entire chain crackled with yellow electricity, burning Azurelle where it contacted her. Shuhei pulled the chain away.

"Nishikaze Tozasegeki: Kyukagi no Arashi (West Wind's Binding: Firestorm Sphere Prison)!" Kazetora flash stepped over to Azurelle and placed one sword on either side of her. Multiple miniature suns encircled her and connected to each other with bars of fire.

Kazetora, jumping away, motioned to Shuhei. He nodded and yelled. "Hado no Nanajusan: Soren Sokatsui (Way of Destruction #73: Twin Lotus Blue Fire Crash Down)!"

At the same time, Kazetora pointed both swords at the flame prison, and blackish purple energy crackled at their tips. "Hado no Kyuju! Kurohitsugi (Way of Destruction #90: Black Coffin)!"

The entire area around the target was enveloped in a cube of black energy, then Shuhei's spell hit in a burst of blue flame. It flashed purple and was pierced by many black spears. In the aftermath of the Kido, a massive fiery explosion ensued.

"What was that last flame?" Shuhei asked.

"Kyukagi no Arashi detonates if the prison is struck in any way. Our combined attack must have set it off." Kazetora explained.

"You just gloat all you want," came Azurelle's voice. "I'll still kill you."

She appeared out of the smoke, smudged with soot and dirt. "One difference: it'll be no fun for me."

Raising her claws, she called, "Llamas de la Perdicion (Flames of Self-Bane)!"

The tips of the claws generated black flames lined with light blue energy, which flowed together into a sphere, and exploded, enveloping the combatants in a wall of destruction.

"So ends my part in this battle." Azurelle gloated, walking away.

"It's not over." Kazetora said, and the advancing torrent of flame split in two. "Minamikaze Zangeki,"

"What?" Azurelle asked. "Another weird technique?"

The split in the fire filled up with dust. Kazetora finished her command.

"Sunaarashi (Roiling Sandstorm)."

The sand funneled into a horizontal tornado and speared Azurelle through the chest.

"You were too late to stop me, because you're too arrogant." Kazetora chided her.

Azurrelle raised her head, and choked out, "Rojo…" She crumpled to her knees.

Kazetora sighed, releasing her inner tension. Immediately, it returned.

Black energy crackled from a space in midair. Azurelle looked up again, and whispered, "Resurreccion…Segunda Etapa…" The black energy blasted Azurelle, Kazetora, and Shuhei. Four bolts of black lightning struck off into the hole in the wall of the cave, and Kazetora's vision turned to blackness.

* * *

When it cleared, she was looking down at a field of war. Behind her, Okanade said, "Darn it! We didn't even start fighting!"

"Shut up!" You were too busy trying to strike up a conversation!" Kiraiyane yelled back.

Across the stretch of Karakura Town, Kazetora saw Byakuya Kuchiki, the three lieutenants, and two women she didn't recognize…one with black hair and another with emerald hair. They stood watching a column of reiatsu blasting into the sky. But one person was missing: Kujo. Kazetora looked around for him, but he was nowhere to be seen.

So that's how it is… Kazetora thought.

Arrayed between them were the other captains of the Gotei 13, and a massive army of white robed figures, at the head of which two Arrancars were having a serious row.

The battle against the Hollows was about to begin.

**End of Part Two**


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